Android Wear 2.0 will finally arrive in early February

Smartwatches might have failed to take over the world last year, but Google will still make good of its promise to release Android Wear 2.0 in Q1 2017. According to a letter addressed to developers and published by Android Police, the long-awaited update to its wearable platform will finally arrive in early February. It was supposed to roll out in late 2016, but Mountain View decided to release a couple of developer previews first. The letter warns developers that Wear 2.0's on-watch Play Store won't show apps that aren't optimized for the platform, so they need to tweak their applications ASAP. Wear 2.0 will also support standalone apps that don't need phones to work.

While the letter didn't mention it, Android Wear 2.0 is expected to launch with a couple of new smartwatches. They won't be Google-branded devices like the Pixel, but they'll serve as the company's flagship products in the smartwatch space. If Google goes through with its plan, we'll see both the platform and the wearables in a few weeks' time.